Atlanta Retail Market Report

Tight conditions most apparent in suburban areas. Steady demographic growth across the Greater Atlanta region has kept vacancy at the lowest level recorded since at least 2007, with the metric holding at 4.0 percent throughout the first half of the year. Retailers appear to be enthusiastically targeting upper-income zones. Buckhead entered July with a vacancy rate of just 1.5 percent, equaling an all-time low noted last year. Other zones in Atlanta’s more affluent northern suburbs, such as the North and South Cobb County submarkets, also reported vacancies no less than 90 basis points under the marketwide average. An expanding population in these locales has facilitated robust demand for necessity retail. The vast majority of move-ins in the 10,000-square-foot-plus range this year pertain to nationally-branded fitness and supermarket chains.